Chapter 9
The group stood in the middle of the courtyard with Sam, Rhodes, and Strange standing before them, Sam and Rhodes in their respective uniforms.
"Alright," Sam clapped his hands, "Everybody got a good night's rest?"
"My sleep schedule is forever ruined," Rhodes commented.
"Same," Carol agreed, rubbing her eyes.
"Mood," Peter mumbled.
"Great way to start the morning," Strange joked to Sam.
"Real supportive, aren't you?," Sam rolled his eyes, "Alright, if we're gonna take this group down, we need to be ready. So, while Webhead, the Pink Panther, and Wings find a way to track down some untraceable weaponry-"
"No pressure," Wasp snidely commented.
"We need to be ready for what's coming," Sam continued.
Like on cue, a group of sorcerers marched from behind Strange, carrying their own weapons.
"So, get ready for an ass-whooping, ladies and gentlemen," Sam's smile widened, "It's training day."
"These are some of Kamar-Taj's best," Strange spoke up, "I asked them if they could volunteer for this little project and they happily obliged."
"Not to knock down your soldiers, but do you really think we need this, doc?," Carol asked, "I mean, I burst through an entire warship with my own body. Pretty sure anything the Kree throw at me would be like throwing rocks at a tank."
"Yeah, that was so badass," Scott agreed, his inner fanboy letting loose a little.
"Danvers, you know the Kree Empire has allies all over the galaxy. Allies whose weaponry we may not be prepared for," Rhodes explained, "Maybe your firework routine won't work this time."
"Besides, you don't seem the type to turn down a little fight," Valkyrie smirked, whipping out her sword. The two stared each other down before Peter gave a cough.
"So, do we need to be a part of this one or…," the teen gulped.
Sam smiled playfully, "You can sit this round out, red."
"Oh thank god," Peter let out a breath of relief before quickly turning around.
"As much I'd love to see this," T'Challa joked, "We shall do our best with what we have."
Before the three walked off, Hope called out to Sam, "Hey, make sure you don't wreck Scott. I don't think his ego could handle that."
"Thanks for the reassurance, honey," Scott sarcastically grinned, giving her a wave.
"Alright, everyone," Sam put his goggles on and turned to face the sorcerers, "Ready to see what we're capable of?"
"Ten bucks you get says you get your ass kicked in under five minutes," joked Rhodey, whose face-plate dropped and armor lit up.
"That any way to talk to your fearless leader?," Sam replied.
"Hey, remember who outranks you, Wilson."
"Oh, here we go again about ranking."
Strange began to float away from the courtyard, landing on the roof of the temple, "Hope you're all ready for this."
"What, you're not joining in?," Scott asked.
"As much as I'd like to slam you all to the ground," Strange shrugged from above, "I'd like to see my colleagues try first."
The wizards began to march forwards, weapons prepared. As the team of superheroes started to square up, Strange raised his hand.
The Master of the Mystic Arts raised his voice, "And...GO!"
The two groups charged forward, ready to attack. Carol flew up into the air, her hands glowing with cosmic energy. She fired two glowing balls of light down at her opponents, balls of energy which would've been strong enough to clear the floor.
Before they could crash down, the sorcerers used their sling rings and opened up amber portals, which engulfed the energy. As the two groups were about to crash into each other, two portals opened behind them, the balls of energy returning to bomb them.
"WHAT THE-?!," Scott screamed as he and the others flew off of the ground from the impact. He shrunk down on instinct and grabbed onto Sam's wings.
The ex-pilot soared into the sky, his colonel friend facing him from the other side of the courtyard.
"Alright, what's the play, Cap?," Rhodes asked on the comms.
"Stay in the air. Use whatever ranged weaponry you've got and fire down at them," Sam commanded.
"Uh, not all of us have metal wings!" Valkyrie called out as she crawled from off of the ground. She rushed forward, sword in hand, and crashed into one of the sorcerers.
She flipped over them, her blade slashing against theirs, "Close-ranged attacks! Those portals can't stop that!"
Sam did a double-take, "What, no! Valkyrie, I need you to-!"
"Alright! I can do that!," Scott shouted before jumping off of Sam's back and landing on the shoulder of one of the wizards. He kicked them in the back of the neck and enlarged, trying to fight back. Unfortunately, an ex-con from San Francisco was no match for a group of highly-trained magicians.
Sam groaned as Rhodey flew next to him, "Come on. They can't take on the both of us."
The colonel and the ex-pilot began firing down at their opponents, using whatever projectiles they had that they knew wouldn't kill them. However, the wizards were still able to summon portals to capture the projectiles and teleport them to crash into the two.
"Dammit," Sam groaned before soaring down, feet first. He kicked one of Strange's students in the face, but they almost smashed his face with a club.
They kicked Scott onto the ground and as he tried to shrink away, Carol tried to blast the group, flying at them. Unfortunately, every blast of energy ended being absorbed by the sorcerers' portals and redirected at either Carol herself or one of her teammates.
"Carol, fire anything you have from up above!," Sam yelled, "We need to go back up!"
"That didn't exactly work the first time, Bird-Man!", Carol shouted back, sparking her fists up. She swung at her opponent, but he kept dodging. Instead, she started to glow and slammed her two fists onto the ground.
Right before she did so, all the wizards summoned a levitating shield and stood on top of it. Carol smashing the ground only took down her teammates. Carol's eyes widened with regret as she saw Valkyrie throw her a glare.
"Shit," Sam groaned, face-palming, "Alright, anyone got a plan, please speak up."
"I think I've got one!," Scott spoke up as he pulled out a red disc. He threw it at one of his opponents, the thought of a tiny wizard causing him to chuckle.
Unfortunately, one of the students, who was busy fending himself off against Carol, captured it and slammed it into Danvers's face.
Once Carol opened her eyes, she mumbled, "Son of a bitch."
The great Captain Marvel was now the size of an ant.
"Oh shit," Scott squeaked.
Valkyrie groaned, "Great move, insect."
Sam shook his head, a look of disappointment on his face. He knew it wasn't going to be easy getting this group to work together, but he thought it'd be much easier than this. Now, their heaviest hitter was an inch-tall, the whole team was getting their asses kicked, and goddamn STRANGE was watching it all from the sidelines!
"Maybe we should've called Bruce for this job," Sam mused.
…
Inside, the three science-minded do-gooders were analyzing what remained of the Kree weapon. Hope was disassembling the remains, Peter was looking at it through a microscope, and T'Challa was scrolling through the Avengers database, utilizing any info gained from Carol and Valkyrie to pinpoint what alien species it came from.
"Who would've thought the universe was as large as this?," T'Challa commented, "It makes one feel small."
Hope chuckled, "Welcome to my world. Man, this is some weird gadgetry. I think it's a mish-mash. Different cultures, different tech."
"It does kind of look a bit like that stuff from Mojoworld we saw on the screen," T'Challa commented.
"Man, hundreds of hundreds of planets out there and Earth is only now scratching the surface of what their tech is capable of," Peter began to chatter, rambling on about how incredible all of this was, as gleeful as a child on Christmas.
T'Challa and Hope looked at the boy, eyebrows raised. Both of them felt a tint of nostalgia. This innocent kid almost brought them back to an older time, like with Cassie or Shuri. But now, this boy was joining a team that had to face off an alien invasion. He needed to be ready for war.
"So," T'Challa interrupted the boy's rambling, "How did you enter this...career?"
"Oh, uh, well, there was this class field-trip to this science lab and while I was there, this crazy huge spider bit me," Peter explained, "I got all sick, I fainted like twice, I think I vomited a few times-Okay, you didn't need to know that. Um, I found out the thing was genetically-altered and its bite, it gave me my powers."
"A spider bite gave you muscles?," Hope asked, letting out a chuckle, "And how do you go from student to Spider-Man? I mean, if I got powers in high school, I would not have been responsible with that at all."
The two noticed the boy's posture falter a little, his shoulders dropping and his smile slowly fading away. Both of them recognized that look. The look of a lost loved one. Both knew how much of a motivator that was.
Hope started to apologize, "Oh, um, sorry, you don't have to-"
"No, it's fine, Dr. Van Dyne," Peter gulped, putting up a smile, "Um, I did try using my powers for my own good. Got back at my bullies, got paid for doing a couple rounds in some...not so legal wrestling matches...but one day, I let a bad guy go...someone who I could've stopped...And they ended up taking away…"
Before the boy could lose his composure, he took a few breaths, "Now, I gotta live up to what he wanted. To use my powers for the good of everyone. I can't look away anymore, I've got to step up. You know what I mean?"
The two swapped a look, retreating into their thoughts. T'Challa remembered cradling the body of his father, wishing that it was him who died instead. He recalled the grief he felt, that need to live up to the life and legacy his father left behind.
And Hope, she may have gotten her mother back, but she remembered the years she spent thinking her mom died on a plane. She wanted to be the Wasp to live up to the heroism of her mother, to help people.
Peter turned back to his microscope and took another look. After another minute, something pinged up on the monitor.
"Finally!," Hope yelped.
"What happened?," T'Challa asked.
The Wasp grinned, "We got ourselves a trace."
…
Sam and Rhodey landed on the ground, trying to use their non-lethal weaponry. Rhodey's armor helped make it harder for the sorcerers to knock him down, but his suit was building for more long-range attacks.
Finally, one of the sorcerers got a clear shot at Rhodey's chest and began hitting specific points. With one final push, Rhodey flew back, crashing to the ground.
"What in the-?," as he woke up, his eyes widened. The world around him looked almost crystal-like, as though he was in a jewel. He got up and tried to shoot at the opponents in front of him, but his projectiles were simply absorbed in some type of fractal portal.
"WHAT IN THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!," he shouted.
"Welcome to the Mirror Dimension, buddy."
The colonel turned to see Doctor Strange walk over to him, a smirk on his face, "Here, no one can see you and you can't hurt anyone on the outside."
"Oh, I turned down some of Tony's parties so I wouldn't see shit like this," Rhodes freaked out.
One of the students walked over and his hands began to glow.
Rhodes chuckled, "So what? Dumbass here can't see me at all?"
The student fired a beam of energy at Rhodey, causing him to fly through the air and crash through the roof. Instead of ending up inside the temple, he ended up flying through a tunnel of light and stars.
Rhodes screamed at the top of his lungs, his armor flying off of him, "OOOOOOOHHHH SHIIIIIITTT!"
After five minutes of insanity, he finally crashed through a crystalline portal in the ceiling, returning to reality.
Right before he crashed down, Peter looked up, feeling his body shiver and his hair stand on end, "Oh crap."
The crashing of the armored hero caused T'Challa leaped away and Hope shrunk on instinct. Peter, meanwhile, jumped to center of the room and caught him in his bare hands.
"ERGH! Training going well, Mr. Rhodes?", Peter asked the colonel.
"NOPE!," Rhodes coughed out, eyes bugging out, "NOPE! NOT AT ALL!"
From below them, an amber portal opened up and the two fell through it, somehow falling onto the roof. Walking towards them was Doctor Strange, who had an amused grin on his face. T'Challa and Hope followed the two, landing on the roof as well.
"I will never get used to this," T'Challa noted.
"I don't want to get used to this!," Peter laughed.
"How was your little trip, Colonel?," Strange asked, smiling.
"Strange, you absolute son of a bitch!," the War Machine screamed at the top of his lungs, "Do you know the shit I saw in there?! THE WALLS HAD EYEBALLS, MAN!"
"Yeah, I've been there before. Not the best," the wizard smiled.
T'Challa looked over the roof, "I'm assuming training went well?"
Down at the courtyard, Valkyrie grunted, brushing dirt off of her. She looked down and giggled, picking up the shrunken Captain Marvel.
"Wow, you are an adorable, little thing, aren't you?," she laughed.
"Wow, you look even uglier from down here," Danvers quipped.
"Hang on," Scott spoke up, looking dizzy as hell. He flipped out a blue disc and threw it at Carol. The captain was back to normal size and looked mad.
"Uh, sorry about that whole...thing. I, uh, meant to aim it at the other dude," Scott stuttered an apology, "Uh, please don't kill me."
Sam walked over, pissed as hell, "What the hell was that?! I told you! LONG! RANGE!"
"That plan wasn't working, Wilson!," Valkyrie called Wilson out, "We needed a better strategy!"
"I don't want to be that guy, but I don't think either of your plans were that great. Just saying," Scott raised his voice.
"This is all pointless anyways," Carol believed, "Look, the Kree are powerful, I know that, but they're not wizards! Why waste time with this?"
"We have no idea what we're facing right now!," Sam pointed out, "For all we know, they've got the damn Easter Bunny on their side! The point is to be ready for whatever's coming and face it as a team!"
"Enough!," Strange yelled, floating downwards, the other heroes hopping from the rooftop, "We can argue about how awful of a team this is on the way to Washington."
"Washington?," Sam asked, "Could you clue me in on what's going on?"
"We've got good news, Cap," Rhodes smiled, "We've got a trace."